Remember all those stories about a new bowling center being planned for Janss Marketplace in the east Ventura County city of Thousand Oaks?

Well, it still may happen.

Or, it may not.

The last flurry of stories reported that there was hope that the facility could be open by early next year.

The Thousand Oaks mall isn’t talking, so it’s difficult to figure out what is happening.

But a couple of things are clear:

The merchants at the mall are not particularly pleased by the uncertainty, saying that it’s hurting business.

And it’s highly unlikely that the planned bowling center and indoor skateboarding area will be ready by early next year.

Construction has not started at the designated area for the project, which is at the 17,000-square-foot former Linens ’n Things store. Furthermore, it appears construction is a long way off, if it will happen at all.

The Conejo Bowl was the last bowling center in Thousand Oaks. Conejo Bowl owner Larry Janss closed the community landmark in 1995, saying that longtime patrons had moved away and a two-year-old city smoking ordinance had reduced business by 10%.

The weekly Acorn newspaper has reported that a group of local entrepreneurs had been discussing with Janss Marketplace owner NewMark Merrill Companies for the past two years the prospect of a 20-lane bowling center at the mall.

Sandy Sigal, chief executive and president of NewMark Merrill Companies, which owns the Janss mall, was quoted in a May story in the Acorn as saying the project “is definitely still moving forward.” He added that the entrepreneurs had a summer deadline to finalize the deal.

Without an announcement, it’s impossible to know exactly what’s going on, which appears to be not much at the moment.

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Fred Eisenhammer is a striking example of a true bowling aficionado. He bowls in a league and even watches bowling on television. He is a former sportswriter who has written three books and has worked as a copy editor and news editor at the Los Angeles Times. Contact Fred at fred.eisenhammer@yahoo.com.